'In a Dark, Dark Wood' by Ruth Ware: EW review

In a Dark, Dark Wood

type

Book

Current Status

In Season

author

Ruth Ware

publisher

Gallery/Scout Press

genre

Novel

We gave it an A-

Not long into this story involving a gun and a bachelorette party (or as Brits like Ware call it, a “hen do”), it’s apparent someone is going to die. And if you’re like me, you’ll find it almost impossible to put this twisting, electrifying debut down until you figure out why. Crime writer Leonora Shaw lives a solitary, routine life, but she can’t resist an invitation to her old friend Clare’s hen do, held in a glass-walled house surrounded on all sides by forest. Soon Leonora wakes up in a hospital, bloodied and hurting; as she comes to, she thinks, “What have I done?” We relive the party as Leonora tries to remember what happened. Nothing about the plot is particularly shocking, but its foggy atmosphere and chilling revelations will leave you breathless. A–